Up, Up and Away

I decided to go with Up as the theme of my door decoration this year. I projected the Up house onto a piece of paper and traced it. Then I used marker to color it in. I purchased the balloons  and borders at my teacher helper store. Each child's name was placed on a balloon. Everytime I open my door, it makes me so happy and excited to start my day. 

The Best Nest

Every year, I am blessed to have Living Classroom lessons put on by wonderful science docents. The lessons focus on plants and animals and do a great job with enhancing our science curriculum. In the Best Nest lesson, students learn about birds and the nest they make. The docent brings in real birds nest from a handful of birds, and the students build their very own nest out of material that they find around the school. This years docent was spectacular. He is a bird watcher, so he was very knowledgable about the local birds and bird habitats. He brought in some of his bird calls and puppets. These really helped the students get excited about the lesson. Then, the students were asked to go exploring outside for materials that would make a great birds nest. The students collected their materials in small, green strawberry baskets. When they were done, they received a plate with mud on it. The mud is made special for this particular lesson. It is like clay, but has more water. It dries around the items so that the nest stays intact. There have been students who placed their nest outside in their backyard, and lo and behold a bird moved in! How exciting would that be!